The Beatles, No Reply - A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction / Excerpts
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- Опубліковано 26 лют 2024
- #thebeatles #johnlennon #paulmccartney #georgeharrison #ringostarr
What a beautiful, well-written, multi-faceted piece of music! There’s so much to appreciate in this song, and I can see the Beatles’ compositional style becoming more emotionally impactful.
Here’s the link to the original song by The Beatles:
• No Reply (Remastered 2...
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Amy Shafer, LRSM, FRSM, RYC, is a classical harpist, pianist, and music teacher, Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Director of Harp Studies for The Harp School, Inc., holds multiple degrees in harp and piano performance and teaching, and is active as a solo and collaborative performer. With nearly two decades of teaching experience, she teaches privately, presents masterclasses and coaching sessions, and has performed and taught in Europe and USA.
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Credits: Music written and performed by The Beatles
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I really love this song. I've never listened to the Beatles For Sale album before you started reacting to it, and I must say that the album is definitely growing on me! Thanks for your all your hard work on the Beatles 150 series. I look forward to every video.
This is their best song pre 1965. It ranks 13 on my list of favorite songs of theirs.
" Yes, I know I'm a lucky GUY" from " Every little thing" , but it recorded in one day with " No reply") And of course in " Misery" - " I'm the kind of guy, who never used to cry")
Oh yeah, Misery 👍, good example 👌
@@richardfehlmann4593 😊
Some Other Guy, a cover.
rocky racoon
That was a very enjoyable reaction video. I especially loved the way you were playing around with the song at the end of the video. Thank you very much, I'm so much looking forward to your next reaction to a Beatles song 🤞😀
This is appearing to be entering into a sublime labor of love. Bravo!👏👏👏
Amy, you have a very pure, cultured heart .. it is a pleasure to be in your company ...
BTW ... I don't know if they used the word "guy" in an original song by them before, but they covered the song "Some Other Guy" during their Hamburg years
I don’t think ‘Some other guy’ was a Lennon-McCartney composition.
@@RPRohrman That's right, not an original, they just covered it. That is what I meant, just to mention they used the word guy at least in a cover song
Thanks Amy for another great reaction. I'm so glad you got to "No Reply" after all, even if out of order. This should make all those who were upset when they thought you were skipping it happy. Also, never worry about making mistakes in what you say in videos Amy, every reactor does (including the best ones). It just shows you are human like the rest of us.😉 An interesting note on terminology that comes up multiple times in the background info, usually quoting Paul. He often refers to the "Middle 8", which is what Americans call the "Bridge". It is a transition section in a song which is often, but not always 8 bars (so sometimes middle 8 can be misleading). I really liked your swing version on the piano.
I'm very interested to watch this reaction. I was so much looking forward to this 😊👍
I think this is one of the best tracks the Beatles ever recorded. Superbly tight playing, great vocals, concise arrangement, powerhouse percussion/refrain, nothing wasted, stunning middle eight. Love it.
I agree with everything you have said.
Nice little lyrical subtlety - the ambiguity of "I saw the light!", being both the literal light silhouetting figures in the bedroom window and the metaphorical light of realising the truth.
It can also be interpreted as a triple entendre. "I saw the light (at the end of the tunnel)" = "I nearly died"
This is one of the best pieces of Beatles analysis I’ve ever seen. The fact that you’d not even heard it before makes it even better!
Unbelievably, you’ve made me love one of my favourite Beatles songs even more.
Wonderful. Thank you!
One of my favourite Beatle songs as well. I agree, an incredibly good analysis that kindles in you an even greater awareness of the qualities and magnificence of this song.
You are so good at this, it’s insane ❤
She is stunningly good.
There's something in particular about the combo of their voices on the bridge, with Paul hitting that high harmony, that I find not only joyous but, when taking in the full arc of the Beatles discography, also kind of terrifying. It's like the sound of the first crumbling pebbles of the avalanche of intense, searing melancholy that the Beatles were about to unleash upon an unsuspecting suburban, teenybopper public which, in some ways, they didn't even ask for, but were about to get whether they liked it or not.
tbh honest the only songs i listen to are the great and wonderful 'Rock & Roll Music' and 'Mr. Moonlight' magical stuff there.
Notice the bosanova rhythm of the drums during the verses as well.
One of my absolute favorites from the early Beatles.
Great song.
Maybe a bolero, or cha cha cha? Idk... No Reply, what a beautiful romantic song.
Your analysis are always like a baseball player going 4 for 4. It's pretty cool, and I'm always amazed.
John Lennon was so fed up with people trying to over-analyze Beatles lyrics and trying to find a hidden meaning in them that he started purposefully putting in meaningless nonsense into songs like "the Walrus was Paul" just to confuse them
About lyrics? Yes.
About music ... he loved to talk about his melodies or ideas
I wouldn't call She Loves You simple, primitive, unsophisticated, etc. I think the song is not being done justice by summarizing it as "just Yeah Yeah Yeah".
❤ your analysis!
I'm really enjoying your journey.
Fab! What a great song.
Es de mis favoritas No Reply, la puedo escuchar mil veces emocionado...Gracias Amy porque tus revisiones siempre dan con el quiz de cada canción (de los Beatles; yo casi solo veo videos de los Beatles aquí) eres muy buena.
Yet another of my top favourites on your channel ❤ I love this for the same reason as Paranoid Android, i.e. the effortless shifting of "gears" / expression of the voices from sultry to enraged. Well... sort of effortless; I guess Lennon's voice is so raw at the start because he put so much feeling into the loud parts and this isn't the first take :)
Another call for the song "Travel" by The Gathering, the TG25 live version. "I wish you knew your music was to stay forever".
Yes I was going to say, supposedly they offered the song to a band called Mortimer. But The Beatles didn't like their rendition, so they kept it for themselves. I don't know if the other group's version was ever released. Anyway, I used to sing this song in my old band and I attempted to do it in a conversational tone. And because I loved to sing the bridge, where John goes down and Paul goes up on the last word of the first and third line, makes for a rich harmony. In fact, we used to make it longer by doing the bridge twice. And instead of doing the second verse a third time, I would end with a return to the first verse.
It was 'Two Of Us' that was offered to the legendary nobodies Mortimer, not this one.
Excellent
[There are Lots and Lots of minor-like notes in very many Beatles songs. I believe that is very strongly referenced in the much later line: Take A Sad Song And Make It Better]
Thanks for the cool analysis once again! An early recording attempt of the song is on the first Anthology collection. It's fun how they mess with the lyrics like "and you walked hand in hand with another plank..." and "YOUR FACE" 😂 Also (very) interesting to hear the creative process at work, trying out ideas that could work for the song and getting the feel right.
Lastly I'd like to share this observation from Tom Ewing's review in Pitchfork of the song, because it stuck with me: "his [Lennon's] dangerously quiet "that's a lie" is the most chilling moment in their catalogue"... Hmm, arguably so I guess?
I'd love to see Deep Purple "Highway Star"
it’s funny that you’ve decided to play it like swing at the end of the video, because the Beatles also experimented with the rhythm and the rests on this song, which can be heard in the anthology 1 take 1 version
ua-cam.com/video/qo15yhZe_V8/v-deo.html
this version has a more straightforward rock’n’roll rhythm and the pauses are much less prominent
it’s fascinating to see the creative process behind the song.
the backing guitar strumming always reminds me if cha cha dance
Hi, I have been watching your channel for a while, and always find your classical approach to reacting and analyzing fascinating.
I notice you have a LOT of Pink Floyd, Beatles, Queen, and metal music featured, but not too much Folk Music (aside from some Dylan).
I wonder if you have ever listened to Pentangle ?
If not, I urge you to, because not only am I convinced you would be fascinated by their song structures, time signatures, and complicated blend of Folk, Jazz, Blues, and Country, but I know you will appreciate hearing 5 absolute masters of music, playing together.
If you only listen to one, please PLEASE just take 6 minutes out of your life to listen to 'Light Flight' (by Pentangle).
This song changed my life, and 20 years later I now play/perform acoustic fingerstyle guitar, and sing, at open mic nights and it is because of me hearing this one song, it really was that special to me. I still think it is one of the best pieces of music I have ever heard.
ua-cam.com/video/2tyVezuUtCA/v-deo.html
" 'Cause I saw you peep through - your face! "
I always thought it was George Martin who suggested the piano in the bridge and final chord. Works great!
Early Beatles often take me by surprise when I start actually analysing what's going on, because they are so seemingly simple that some of the moments of more sophisticated harmony pass you by without noticing them. In this song, its the F major 7 chord on the second "I saw the light", with John's vocal providing the major seventh. For context, McCartney's bass is playing an F while Lennon sings an E. One might have expected Lennon to move up a semitone for his second "light", but because he doesn't, he turns the F chord the band is playing into a major 7. The interesting thing is that a major seven chord normally creates an extremely bright, MAJOR sound (including, as it does, not only the major third but also the leading tone that distinguishes "the major scale", otherwise known as the Ionian mode of the diatonic scale, from its slightly darker cousin, Mixolydian), almost to the point of sounding saccharinely sweet. But in this context, it doesn't sound that way at all.
Of course "I saw the light" has a double meaning - also meaning made a realisation, hence the emphasis on the line. Simple and obvious but doesn't seem to have been mentioned (finally found it in another comment, but I've written it now)
The whole song is addressed directly to his (former) girlfriend. The harmonized "I saw the light" and "I nearly died" lines can be taken as representing outbursts of emotion (anger, probably), suggesting that he's trying to suppress his emotions at other times, which might tally with the stilted delivery of the lines. (He is undoubtedly imitating Bob Dylan's vocal delivery in this song, but the effect is similar to singing through gritted teeth.) The repetition of "No reply" at the end is also one of these emotional outbursts. It's never established whether this is a conversation he's having in his head or in person with her. If it's the latter then I think it's possible that that closing "No reply" indicates that, even now, confronted with what he knows about what's been going on, she still has nothing to say to him. It's another, slightly different no reply.
The rutles.
Piggy in the middle.
😊
Relating to variations and versions of familiar songs, when you get to "With a Little Help From My Friends" from Sgt. Pepper, you should compare the Beatles' version to Joe Cocker's. Paul McCartney later commented: "It was just mind-blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful for him for doing that."
Great reaction! There is a more rockin' jam style version of this song on "Anthony 1: take 1"
Not just Bob Dylan. In March 1964 John Lennon's first book "In His Own Write" was published and he was interviewed by Kenneth Allsop on Tonight on BBC TV in London. This was a high brow programme and the first time Lennon had been interviewed as a serious writer. One question that Allsop put to him was to ask Lennon why he separated his literary work from his musical work as, up to that time, Lennon thought of them as separate art forms. Unlike, say William Mann in the The Times who on 27th December 1963 had written about the musical sophistication in Lennon and McCartney's writing, talking of pandiatonic clusters and Aeolian cadences in a way that seemed pretentious, high brow and very Establishment to Lennon and McCartney (and so could be ignored), Kenneth Allsop however clearly valued both Lennon's literary and musical work and was an enthusiast. When The Beatles met Bob Dylan some 5 months later they were already evolving further, having since completed the Hard Days Night soundtrack' "make it more cinematic" as director Richard Lester kept demanding of their music. Wonderful and enjoyable analysis as ever Amy ;)
John was always introspective; he didn't learn to be so from Bob Dylan. What Dylan and others showed was that introspective music could be commercially viable. John always made sure that his introspection was married to music that made you feel good. The brilliance of the Beatles was that their adventurousness and risk-taking kept selling records. I don't think they were ready in 1964 or '65, or possibly ever, to give up commercial success for the sake of self-expression.
Great reaction. It's an interesting song structure. The "I saw the light" parts are the highlights, done with minor chords, which works extra well because they didn't use minor chords in the main verse, which is C F and G.
I suppose the "I saw the light", "I nearly died" parts are the chorus? That's what they end up singing "No reply" to at the end. The chorus is Am and Em? Weird, it's almost sort of backwards.
And then we have the usual one-of-a-kind bridge. C to E7 to A is kind of a key change, the normal key of C VI chord would be Am. Then it goes from A to Dm to F and then back to C. Well, Dm and F are chords in the key of C too, so it makes that straight A chord really, I don't know, pungent? It just really sticks out.
I tend to give McCartney credit for these little changes like the high tenor harmony parts in what I'd call the chorus, but who knows? It's interesting to guess about who contributed what.
Let's hope What You're Doing comes next
One of the first recordings was Hello Little Girl (one of John's) on a 10 inch acetate that Brian Epstein gave to George Martin to interest him in the Beatles backed as I remember with I believe Till There Was You. Only preceded by their own disc recording of In Spite Of All The Danger ( Harrison & McCartney) . Many of the early radio hits later would be available on jukebox discs. Glad you decided not to overlook No Reply Amy and hope you'll remember Goodbye from the Deluxe Abbey Road too! 🌈🤡
Oh again ignore the nutters who whinge about all the other songs they did on the BBC and elsewhere some of which were delayed in being commonly available !!! 🎱🤡
That is to say include some of them rather than ignore them ! 🤡
According to Beatles FAQ website, The Beatles have sold an estimated 2.7 BILLION records (albums and singles) worldwide. There is obviously a reason.
As everyone knows that the Beatles material has been around a LONG TIME ....
.....and millions of people still love the music.....
..... information known to all of us....
.....what is the point of your comment.....!?!?!!
@@andymccabe6712Rex is obviously impressed with the figures and enjoys proclaiming it. A natural response to any normal person! You Andy are proving to be a misanthropic muddler -- a type that in today's deteriorating society unfortunately is on the increase. You are always negative I find. Cheers up ! 🌈🤡
Hah!!! "Paperback story" ....you just wait and see!!
I think you would be interested to compare this song with "Delilah", by Tom Jones. Perhaps the inclusion of "guy" was specifically for the American market. Thank you for all the videos.
Try Parliament - Flashlight 😁
React to the black metal band EMPEROR
either “anthems of the welken at dusk” album
Or the “in the night side eclipse “ album
They are symphonic masterpieces
I've asked this question of other UA-camrs whose Beatles videos are being blocked and have not gotten a logical answer. Why are some Beatles reaction videos forced to clip their segments of songs and others will just play the complete tune with a grin on their faces? It seems to me from what I've seen the people doing critical analysis are being held to a different standard. What am I missing?
It’s “jazz” or at least as jazzy as Lennon would ever get before Sun King. Think of how popular Bossa Nova was when this was written.
I just realized that the “I saw the light” and “I nearly died” music is recycled from an earlier Lennon song, When I Get Home.
Subscribed. I was in high school when the Beatles first came to America. All the girls in my class went crazy. If you would like to explore, may I suggest a reaction to BABYMETAL. They are unique. Their music has a positive and uplifting message. They have a fun and awesome performance:
BABYMETAL - PA PA YA!! (feat. F.HERO) (OFFICIAL)
Or:
MAYA【Live Blu-ray/DVD「BABYMETAL BEGINS - THE OTHER ONE -」"BLACK NIGHT"】
Or to showcase the lead singer’s amazing voice:
BABYMETAL - Monochrome - Piano ver. / THE FIRST TAKE 🖖 ❤
Listen to the original 9 min version of Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. You won't be disappointed...
Lennon said lots of nonsense. I wouldn’t take any of it too seriously. He was a great artist. But, like many artists he was awfully “quirky” and that is reflected in his commentary about his own creative processes (and that of other artists).
maybe, but not “any of it” man, he was also often honest and objective about the history of Beatles music.
@@dago87able I guess we disagree. Honest yes. Objective no.
@@davidmontgomery4696 well, i won’t get into it, but i believe that at least part of the time he was also factually correct; if he said: “this was Paul’s”, or George’s, there’s a good chance that it was actually Paul’s or George’s, i would say.
Er....that 'special thing' he's doing with his voice....!?
.....the vocal is double tracked ....isn't it ......!?!?
Y HABLA HABLA Y SIGUE HABLANDO---Y MO PARA DE HABLAR....... PFFFFFFF
You missed the point.....'juan'.....big time...!!
.....are you a TWO year old.....!?!?
.....children do get confused.......
@@andymccabe6712again their missing the music Andy though fan though I am I will say she can get a bit on the side of shall we say - loquacious ! 😹
Amy, your'se spending too much time on minor songs now and I fear burning through the 150. Why? Because their later albums are almost all masterpieces. You won't have enough songs left to cover them all
Something to watch, for sure. On the other hand this track is not really a "minor song", it's powerful and one of their finest.
You haven't really begun to hear the sophisticated side of the Beatles at this point. I wish you could just fast forward past this minor work.
I understand your concenrt, but this track is not "minor work", it's terrific.
People get SO precious and pretentious about The Beatles.....don't they ...
'minor work'........HA...!!!!
I understand your comments but No Reply is a yardstick in their work. It is more mature in both music and lyrics , it motivated the Byrd's to move more into rock which I will always be thankful for. It is transitional. Cheers 🤡